Monday, September 15, 2014

Chapter 2: Gifts needed by an abbot or abbess (paragraphs 8-9)


It is above all important that monastic superiors should not underrate or think lightly of the salvation of the souls committed to them by giving too much attention to transient affairs of this world which have no lasting value. (From para. 8 of Ch. 2 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

What is "transient" is often so because of the corrupted quality of attention I give it. If my ego is trying to control circumstances, then those circumstances may lose their salvific value. But anything I treat with selfless attention and service towards others is blessed with eternal love.

3 comments:

  1. How often I turn to temporal solutions "If I do this, this will happen for the better", or "If I purchase this, this will change for the better". Sometimes in small things temporal solutions are the answer. In this paragraph Benedict reminds me of the one thing that I need the most to adhere to in greater situations and that is trust in Divine Providence, trust in a Father's love which gives me what I cannot even imagine I need. "Seek first the kingdom of God...and all these things will be given you besides."(NAB trans.) I have to learn to trust in "all these things" which may not be exactly the solutions I think I need or even want, because I cannot have it my way.

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  2. If only I can remember moment by moment that those people around me are people who like me, needs that 'salvific love of God,' I will not in any way hurt them. But the many worldly desires of this world oftentimes blind me. Thus, I always need the healing grace of God for this kind of blindness.

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  3. For me it takes a strange sort of courage to write this comment, today, knowing how imperfect it is and how imperfect I am. But it is what it is and I am what I am. and, by your grace, you are who you are, Abba. This is simply part of our strange and wonderful adventure together. That's the attitude I would love my ideal abbess or abbot to have: that of a child at play in your garden.

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